Each design starts out with a proposal phase. I like to keep these drawings fairly simple, with enough info to see if they like the concept. For this beer, I started with three sketches. It was decided that humans made the most sense for this beer, but the birds may play a role in a future design.

This version still cracks me up! I modeled the man on the right after Vincent Price, to give it more of a dark vibe, but the trio look as if they will break out in song at any moment. I suppose some people would find that terrifying!

At one point, I had proposed this concept of three figures and the Dayton sky line in the background.

It was turned down initially while we tried a different route. This image was inspired by a drawing of Dayton's first settlers. The settlers traveled North from Cincinnati by Pirouge (a flat bottom boat).

The last design was too "Little House on the Prairie," so I decided to revisit the men and the Dayton skyline. They just needed proper boating attire!

Since the beer was a Black Tripel, I knew I wanted the design to be dark, a night scene. The original is drawn in pen.